December 8, 2025 • 44 mins
We sit down with author and veteran teacher Judith Husker to explore how a childhood of forts and frogs became a debut fantasy full of born ones, chasm guards, and a reluctant hero learning to trust himself. Along the way we talk craft, teaching, and why celebrating your own life is the bravest magic.
• Growing up on a family farm and building a lifelong imagination
• Translating teaching into storytelling that feels real
• Writing process as a pantser and embracing surprise
• The Dreamer The Seeker world, magic systems, and stakes
• Kaori’s arc from insecurity to strength
• Villainy with purpose and creatures that raise the tension
• Themes of self-worth, identity, and belonging
• Easter eggs, cliffhangers, and a sequel in progress
• Practical encouragement for aspiring writers to just start
• Where to find the book on Amazon and Kindle
Go pick up The Dreamer The Seeker on Amazon; the link is in the show notes
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Every conversation tells a story, and the best ones
(00:03):
begin with honesty, courage, anda little curiosity.
That's where Elsa Kurt comes in.
She's an author, podcaster, andindependent media personality,
and this is where she bringsreal life to the table.
Authors, thinkers, creators,leaders, everyday folks with
extraordinary journeys.
We sit down, we dig in, and wetalk about what matters, what's
(00:26):
messy, what's beautiful, andwhat just might inspire you to
look at the world a littledifferently.
So pour a cup of something good.
Settle back and join me.
This is Elsa Kurt Interviews,where truth has a seat and
everyone's welcome.
SPEAKER_02 (00:41):
Well, hello, my friends.
It is time for another one of myfavorite things.
They have so many favoritethings, but this is absolutely
highest on the list.
I love interviews, and I have awonderful, beautiful, lovely,
amazing guest today.
Her name is Judith, and she isgoing to tell us all about her
(01:02):
latest.
I'm sorry, her debut book.
I'm saying latest because I knowthere's going to be so many more
to come.
Um, but here is a little bitabout her.
SPEAKER_00 (01:10):
Today we're welcoming Judith Husker, a woman
whose life reads like a quietadventure story all its own.
She grew up building forts inthe woods, spent 40 years
lighting fires of imagination inher students, and now she
stepped into the world offantasy writing with her debut
novel, The Dreamer the Seeker.
We'll talk about the childhoodthat shaped her, the classroom
(01:32):
that sharpened her voice, andthe stories she's bringing to
life today.
Let's get into it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:38):
Well, hello, Judith.
How are you?
I am fine.
How are you?
I am good.
I'm so happy to meet you.
I'm so happy to hear about yourbook.
You know, when I was readingyour bio a little bit, it felt
in some ways so relatable.
We had such a similar childhoodand just love for imagination.
(02:01):
So um, you grew up on a smallfamily farm.
That part I didn't get to do,but I had a really big yard.
Um, you were surrounded by woodsand animals and what sounds like
endless, endless rooms, room tojust imagine.
And I would love to know thathow did that childhood world of
(02:21):
forts and fairies and dragonsshape the storyteller that you
eventually became?
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
Well, it was not only that, going out in the
woods with my brothers, helpingbuild forts, and then imagining
all the things that were comingafter us, and we were attacking
them or flying somewhere.
And then I would go in the houseand create a club, like I had
the garden club, and I'd makeeveryone little songs and little
(02:48):
booklet and things they coulddo.
And this was like when I wasjust 10, 11, 12, I was already
doing these things, and um wemight do a dragon club, you
know, where we would drawdragons and talk, you know,
because we knew dragons werereal.
I love like that.
SPEAKER_02 (03:07):
Oh, how fun! Were you able?
So I I feel like I was able tohang on to that mindset for so
long, and yes, even intoadulthood, but I always I also
feel like it slips away a littlebit.
But you were very fortunatebecause you worked with children
for a very long time.
Did that help you?
Did that help keep that sense,that type of imagination alive
(03:32):
for you?
SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
Definitely.
Um, I was already into being avery creative person and just
like creating a club, and we'dhave a sometimes we'd have a
fair going on, or just all kindsof interesting things in the
backyard.
And uh, there were six kids inmy family, so we were all very
(03:53):
busy, we enjoyed each other, anduh my dad was busy things like
digging out a swimming pool,just cluttering it with black
tarp.
That was all this big hole.
But and my mom would dump bleachin it every once in a while to
make it supposedly clean.
SPEAKER_02 (04:12):
That was that was our answer back in the day to
everything, right?
Right, yeah, good old bleach.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
Right.
But there were all kinds ofthings in the pool too.
That one time a frog got inthere and that was kind of fun.
SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
Oh, my favorite.
SPEAKER_01 (04:27):
Right.
So it was kind of a little livepond, not I mean, you know, it
wasn't just a swimming pool.
SPEAKER_02 (04:35):
Right, right.
Oh, I remember that as a kidtoo.
Or the I remember the swimmingpool, and that was like my big
excitement.
So I grew up in an apartmentcomplex, but um, we had a big
in-round pool.
I thought it was rich, by theway.
We were not, nowhere near it.
And you know, the um the littledrains that they would have or
baskets, filters, that's what itis.
(04:56):
Um, we would always find frogsin there.
So that was like the greatestthing ever in my mind, right?
Oh, loved it.
They all had names.
Every frog I ever caught got aname.
Most of them had the same name,right?
Right.
Oh, I love that.
It's like you're bringing meback to my own childhood.
It's so sweet.
Good, I'm glad.
(05:16):
Um, were you were you writingback then as well, or were you
just living in that imagination?
SPEAKER_01 (05:23):
I was kind of living in it when I wrote these little
booklets for kids.
I would make them into every allthe neighbor kids got a booklet,
and we would sing the songs andread the stories.
And so that was my beginning ofmy writing.
And then it just continued fromthere.
That's enjoyed writing andcreating things and being very
(05:43):
creative, which really helped itwhen I became a teacher.
SPEAKER_02 (05:47):
Oh, absolutely.
What um what what did you teach?
Was it general studies or was itEnglish?
SPEAKER_01 (05:52):
Was it yes, general?
I taught grade school andbecause it was so long, I taught
all the grades, K through, and Iwent to fifth grade then in the
school district I was in.
So uh, and I love being indifferent grades because they're
all wonderful.
And I thoroughly that was mypassion, really.
Teaching always was from theeven before I started teaching.
(06:14):
And so, and I love creatingthings.
I didn't just like the mathprogram.
Oh, I just don't like this mathprogram, it's not progressing
right.
So I redid it.
Oh wow.
I didn't tell everybody elsebecause they would have a fit,
but it really made sense to mykids to learn to do math in a
way that made sense and waspractical.
(06:35):
I tried to create things thatwere real life, like if we were
doing measurement, we foundsomeone was building a house and
we went over and got to measurethe house, the inside.
That was oh wow.
SPEAKER_02 (06:47):
Uh, where were teachers like you when I was
growing up?
I didn't have, I just I did nothave, I was the ADHD kid before
ADHD was a thing.
So I was just, you know, uh hadpotential, but never uh applied
herself.
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
I was the ADHD teacher, and so I would talk to
the kids and I would explain,you know, this this has nothing
to do with intelligence.
You can be very intelligent andstill have this kind of your
your brain is just going at alltimes.
Yes, yes, absolutely.
I had a contest once with one ofthe girls that let's see how
(07:24):
long we can sit still withouteven moving an inch.
I lost.
SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
I love that.
I love that.
And for an ADH year, we love achallenge, like, oh, if you're
gonna challenge our brain to dosomething or or tell us that we
can't do it, now we have to doit.
Now we must.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (07:41):
Oh, that's so awesome.
Yes.
Another part of people, itisn't, and I think for a while
we kind of condemned kids whoare like that, and it should
never have happened.
It was just a part of apersonality.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (07:55):
It's so true.
You're so right.
It just it's just a simplelittle difference, that's all.
And you know, when you thinkabout it, every every child,
every person is different,right?
Like this is just yet anotherdifference that we have.
So that's right.
Yeah.
Oh, well, thank you.
Because I I I have a very strongfeeling that you sent so many
(08:16):
children onto really terrificpaths in their life.
So oh, God bless teachers likeyou.
The um the early spark obviouslystayed with you throughout your
entire life, and it has shown upbeautifully in your debut novel.
So let's talk a little bit aboutthat.
You spent 40 years inspiringyoung minds in the classroom.
(08:38):
How did your career in educationinfluence your approach to
storytelling?
And in go ahead, yeah, go ahead,answer that one.
SPEAKER_01 (08:45):
I was gonna just say that I even wrote in the
classroom.
I wrote for all the fifth gradeuh classrooms in my district a
book, um, you know, Unit onChemistry and a human unit on
the human body, and everyoneliked it.
Wow.
And um it was so I was alwayswriting, and when I wrote, I
would throw in fun things, youknow.
(09:06):
Like if you're want to learnabout your heart and how that it
beats all the time, get a spongeor a softball and try to squeeze
it for a minute.
You will not be able to, you'llfind my goodness the heart does
this all day long.
That's brilliant.
Things like that.
SPEAKER_02 (09:24):
Uh that's actually amazing to me.
We can go back to the otherquestion, but that's amazing to
me because uh you're so wellrounded in the different types
of, we'll call it genres forlack of another word.
Uh the genres that you can writein, that you can write technical
writing, that you can writefantasy, that it's that's really
impressive.
And I don't, I I feel likethat's not as common as, you
(09:47):
know, a lot of people will, alot of authors, writers will
pick a lane and they'llgenerally stay in it.
They may switch over a littlebit here and there, a little to
the left, a little to the right.
But uh that's pretty diverse.
So I'm incredibly impressedright now and jealous.
I'm really envious right now.
So, how did those years withthose kids?
(10:09):
Because I would imagine justlistening to them and
interacting with them teachesyou what they want to, what they
want to read, right?
What they what resonates withthem.
So you had that leg up wheresomebody else who, you know,
just sat down one day with nochildhood education background.
Um, so I'm gonna write a fantasybook for for children and young
(10:29):
adults.
I don't think it works that way,but it just doesn't, right?
But there are people who havetried it and you can see that
they haven't made thatconnection.
So tell tell me how that helpedyou make that connection.
SPEAKER_01 (10:42):
Well, first of all, it was in the choice of books.
We read a lot of fantasy booksabout dragons and all kinds of
things, and the kids loved them.
And we would write about it, wewould draw them, we would do, we
would learn like dinosaurs andreally go into what they were
like and uh what the ones howthe ones got food that had short
(11:03):
hands and the ones who walkedaround on all fours and how long
ago it was.
It was amazing.
People don't, we don't totallycomprehend what millions of
years are.
Yeah.
So each of that, um, and infact, while I was teaching, I
wanted to start writingsomething.
And I did start the fantasy.
(11:25):
I but I had three kids gettingmy master's teaching full-time,
and I started writing thisfantasy.
I fit it in.
I only did it once in a while,though, because my life was
busy.
Sure.
But I thoroughly enjoyed doingit and just slowly getting
along, building up thesecharacters that were just coming
(11:45):
out of my mind.
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (11:48):
And you kind of have to with some with something that
with such an undertaking as afantasy novel, like you really
do have to take a lot of becauseit's world building.
You're building worlds fromscratch, from your just from
your right.
You know, you don't have youcan't go on um uh Google Maps
and you know, look at a right,you know, and like it's really
(12:10):
coming from your own mind.
So I, you know, that's such a acool, cool ability to be able to
to just do that to build likethat.
SPEAKER_01 (12:21):
I know that a lot of authors, since I heard about the
Harry Potter, she literallywrote outlines of everything.
Oh, yeah.
I would never stay on theoutline, I know.
I would just say, I don't knowwhat I'm gonna write today, and
I would start and it would justlike come out of my head.
All of the scramble of storiesthat were there came out, and
(12:41):
they just came out, and I went,Oh, that's good.
I like that.
I love that.
SPEAKER_02 (12:46):
I have a name for it.
I always asked my fellow authorfriends, people, I always say,
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
And they're like, What are youtalking about?
I said, Well, do you have towrite out the whole outline that
get your whole plot together, ordo you just sit down and fly by
the seat of your pants, apantser, and write?
And I'm a pantser.
(13:07):
I do the same thing that you do.
I have I sit down and the wordsjust they the story starts
telling itself, and I'm just theperson right?
SPEAKER_01 (13:15):
I just on the typewriter, that's all.
SPEAKER_02 (13:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, I love it.
And it's so fun.
And I always, I don't know aboutyou, do you like look back after
you've written like a big chunkof writing and you maybe take a
break from it for a little whileand then you go back and read
it, and you almost don'tremember writing, like it's
almost unrecognizable.
You're like, I wrote that?
Really?
That's for me.
SPEAKER_01 (13:36):
I remember once just opening up part of the the book
as far as I got and startedreading.
I went, boy, I like how thatlady is that um troll is our elf
is talking.
That is amazing.
She really got hey, wait, Iwrote that.
SPEAKER_02 (13:52):
It's so fun, isn't it?
So I love I love hearingsomebody else that does that
because most of the people Italk to will say, oh no, no, no.
I I put I have the outline and Ihave like character studies for
each character, and I do like abio for them, and they you know,
and they have like the you know,the strings and the things and
the circles and all.
(14:13):
I'm like, no, no, I can't, Ican't.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
My brain would not allow it, right?
My brain wouldn't either.
I would just and besides, Iwould get halfway through and
then stop and think of a betteridea and just keep going.
That's kind of the way teachingis some people write outlines
and just really detailed, andthey have to follow it.
And for me, it was okay, we'regoing to do this thing on uh
(14:38):
social studies, say we're gonnalearn about American history.
Well, we'll start out here andthen I'll learn about some other
people, and so we'll go and dosomething else about American
history, but in a different uhdifferent angle, and to keep it
moving and keeping it alive isimportant.
Yeah, uh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
Did you have a lot of kids that were?
I'm sorry, I'm sidetrackinghere.
Did you have a um a good mix ofpotters and and panthers in your
classrooms, or did they seem tobe more?
SPEAKER_01 (15:04):
Yeah, um I mainly had panthers, I think.
I worked really well with kidsthat had disabilities, and so I
my classroom was always loaded.
Yeah.
In fact, when I was beingswitched to a different grade
level, the one who was goinginto fifth grade told the fourth
grade teachers, don't you daredo to me what you did to Judith.
(15:28):
I don't want all those kids.
SPEAKER_02 (15:31):
So let's talk a little bit about your book.
I keep picking your brain abouteverything else now.
Let's move on to the book.
So, for someone picking up thedreamer, the seeker for the
first time, how would youdescribe it to them?
SPEAKER_01 (15:44):
Okay, the first thing I'm going to explain is
that I wrote a book and it lookslike this.
Ah.
And this was my first book.
It's the same plot, but I did itthrough a free company that is
free and you get what you payfor.
And I thought they were going toformat it and correct it and you
(16:06):
know, edit it.
No, they didn't.
So it has all kinds of errors init.
This is the book.
This is the one you want tofind.
And the only place I've seen iton is Amazon or Kindle.
And if the wrong book appears,then you go either to my name,
try my name first, and then trythe name of the book.
(16:28):
But um, this is incrediblebecause I had a lot of help.
SPEAKER_02 (16:32):
Tell me a little bit about what readers can expect in
like in terms of the story'spremise and you know, the
storyline and the emotionalexperience that it offers.
SPEAKER_01 (16:44):
First of all, it's very unique in the sense that
every time you turn a page or apart of the story, you don't
know how it's going to turn out.
And that's what my son told me.
My son, who's older, said, Mom,this is so creative because I
never expect what's going tohappen to happen.
And I have all kinds of magic,but it's not anybody else's
(17:07):
stuff I've invented myself.
And the P, there's a there's uhdwarves and elves and humans and
trolls and orgs, and then ofcourse the monster part, the
terrible monster and all his uhassociates.
But it starts with this youngboy.
Now I don't want to say tooyoung, he's probably about 16,
(17:30):
but he's a he's a mixture of it.
He's a dwarfson.
And there are also these peoplecalled born ones, and born ones
are people who connect with theuniverse, and the universe gives
them strength and power anddirections of how to to help
people.
(17:51):
So um that's and he discoversthat he is a born one.
And the problem is that he hasno, he's very insecure and he
thinks this is this can't betrue.
I don't I can't do magic.
I I I can make a coin disappearin my hands, that's about it.
And so the story is about thisyoung man developing into seeing
(18:15):
himself more positively, able tohelp others, and going through a
lot of adventures, you know,like the ice witch, who he has
to uh find and deal with her.
And of course, she captures himand freezes him, and his friends
are there to help him and gethim out of the problem, and just
(18:36):
constantly falling into moreproblems and more adventures.
Like there's an innkeeper whouh, when they are kind of lost,
they're going around.
There's three other friends hehas, and one is an elf who's
really good at tracking, but hegets lost, and they end up in
this inn and they get food anddinner, and then they find out
they're trapped in there, theycan never leave.
(18:58):
And um, so a battle kind ofstarts out, and he every time he
feels that he can't really domuch.
One time he's been given by umsomeone this belt that has all
these crystals on it, and thethe crystal explodes when an an
(19:19):
evil person comes near, and hisfriend said, What happened?
He says, I don't know.
I had my eyes closed, I was tooscared.
I love this.
And then there's a marmouse, anda marmuse is about five foot.
She's not a mouse at all, she'sum just a critter that um no one
else likes.
(19:39):
In fact, trolls like to findthem because they have them for
dinner, and uh but and she seemsso scatter-brained and so out of
it.
But what she is hiding is thefact that she is the ultimate
born one, and um how she helpsKaori through this is just
really amazing.
And then she passes on to himwhat she has, and that becomes
(20:01):
exciting.
Is there anything I've left outnow?
Because I haven't really said,well, Kaori does this and then
this and this.
SPEAKER_02 (20:08):
I don't want it to be too Yeah, no, we're not gonna
tell him the whole story.
You all have to go buy thatbook.
You're not gonna get the wholestory right now.
No, but I love so what'sstriking me so much is that I I
feel like I can see thecharacters, which is so cool.
And I I I love that they're sounique and different from each
(20:30):
other, but yet there's also afamiliarity to them, like they
have like relatable qualitiesthat you know we can relate to
as humans too.
And I think that's what makeswhat makes it so endearing that
you can be taken into the storyand feel this the sense of
wonder and fantasy and othernessof it.
(20:53):
Um, but then you also feel likeyou're relating, you know, and
and I think that's really aspecial and difficult thing to
do.
Do you have, speaking of yourcharacters, do you have, I mean,
everyone would probably guessit's the main character, but do
you have a character in the bookthat you especially connected
(21:13):
with or was just simply yourfavorite character of the book?
SPEAKER_01 (21:17):
It would be Kaori, and I say his name clear
carefully because sometimespeople don't know how to
pronounce it.
And Kaori is the main character,and it talks about how he just
develops and becomes this verystrong person and then develops
until he is the ultimate bornone.
And um the other person who hasa unique name is I Aja.
(21:44):
And when I don't know where Igot these names, they just came
to me.
And so she's a top-born one, andshe gives all her power and
strength to uh, she's likehundreds of years old, so she's
ready to go on to the up in thesky wherever they go, and uh so
she gives her power to him, andhe that really changes his
(22:05):
ability, what he feels abouthimself.
I must be okay because Ayajathought I was.
So um, I love that, right?
SPEAKER_02 (22:16):
That's beautiful.
Tell me a little bit about theprotagonist, the the scary guy,
without giving away too much, ofcourse, but the marauder is a
wizard who has gone uh insaneand is has created these
(22:37):
creatures who follow him and arewinged creatures and are dark.
SPEAKER_01 (22:44):
Um, but he is different, he is not like your
normal evil, but he loves evil,he loves hurting people and
torturing them.
I don't have a lot of torture init though, because I don't like
that.
But I do have people that arelike if a one of the winged
creatures goes after you andeven claws you, you will die
(23:06):
instantly because they have somuch power and so much poison in
their body.
And then I should tell about theother part that is important,
and that is when the themarauder has been under earth
and they've found out that he'snow going to expose himself and
come out in the open.
And so they have a group ofpeople they call the chasm
(23:28):
guards, and each of them havebeen given a special sword that
just is their own, and thoseswords can create, can kill
fantasy creatures, and no oneelse can.
They're the only ones who cankill these, and they're called
scabars, and they're the onlyones who can kill them, so it's
good they have a lot of thosepeople around helping out.
SPEAKER_02 (23:50):
This sounds so good, it sounds so epic, it just
sounds like this great epicstory.
SPEAKER_01 (23:56):
It is the epic story, and it's exciting.
SPEAKER_02 (24:00):
You um I'm sorry what's going on.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, I can I can I can onlyimagine.
I can't wait to read it.
I can't wait to read the wholething.
Tell me a little bit about whatyou would say, like the core
themes or messages that you hopereaders will take away from
reading the story.
SPEAKER_01 (24:21):
Okay, I'm gonna have to go back to when I was
teaching school.
One of my former students, who'sthen an eighth grader, came in
and was just chatting with meand said, You know, my teacher
told me I'm a failure and I'llnever make it, and you know,
just give it up.
I couldn't, I said, You have gotto be kidding that somebody
would tell you that.
I know, my class, you were soyou were just a good student.
(24:46):
And you're good enough that youcan go to college, you can go to
trade school, you can do whatyou want to do because you're a
hard worker and that's the wayit is.
I don't listen to that man.
So that kind of brought me tothinking about what I want
people to do after they readthis, is not just celebrate life
(25:09):
or something like that, butcelebrate my life, my
personality.
Like, okay, if your attentiondeficit, celebrate it.
And if um, and I talk to thekids, we make lists of things
we're good at.
And if you're good at soccer, itdoesn't mean you're the best in
the world, it just means you'reproud of yourself, and I'm
celebrating myself.
(25:29):
And that's what Kiori does.
He comes very slowly along tillhe can celebrate the kind of
person he is and not worry aboutanybody else.
This isn't this is what I wantyou to do.
So I want it to be it's a veryunique story, it's very
creative, but mainly it slowlyworks into people feeling
(25:51):
positive about our creaturesfeeling positive about
themselves.
And that I think that's a realimportant message we say about
celebrate life, but we forgetthat it's our life we should be
celebrating.
SPEAKER_02 (26:04):
I feel like you just healed something in my young
child's heart.
Just just hearing that, justhearing that, like it just it it
feels good to hear it.
And I and I know, you know, allthe kids that that are and were
like me, and you know, I had avery supportive family.
So I did not have a terribletime of it.
School was very difficult for mebecause I just you know, and you
(26:29):
know, so and of course back thenthey didn't understand kids like
me.
And you're bad.
Why aren't you just I was justyeah, I was just being bad.
I was a daydreamer, I was youknow an airhead, I was spacing,
you know, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Always always was looking outthe window, never paid attention
because I was too busy in my ownlittle fantasy world.
(26:50):
That probably sounds veryfamiliar, right?
Right.
That is so wonderful.
What a wonderful place to be.
Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't yougo to that place any chance?
Come on, you know, yeah.
So oh um, I I so I'm so curious.
This sounds like a book thatshould have sequels.
Will the will there be more tothe story or will you change
(27:13):
gears completely?
SPEAKER_01 (27:14):
No, I'm already halfway through the sequel, the
third, the second story, and Ibrought in some of the same
characters, but I have enrichedthem and made them discover
things about themselves.
And uh a totally differentadventure.
Everything is because that'sjust the way I wanted to do it,
but it is long.
(27:35):
I've also written, but I've not,I just have the story down of a
Christmas story.
Um, and now I'm gonna have toget illustrator and get it
formatted correctly and thingslike that.
But that's uh they're both inthe works.
I'm mainly working on my secondstory of Dreamers and the
Seekers.
SPEAKER_02 (27:55):
I don't know what I'm gonna call it, but it's
that's that makes it even moreexciting, right?
It's exciting for you becauseyou don't know it's gonna come
as a surprise for even you.
That's so fun.
How long?
Um like on the technical side ofthings, I'm so curious how long
from when you finished writingthe manuscript of the dreamer
the seeker, how long before youstarted the second book?
(28:19):
Was there a long gap or did youstart kind of right away?
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
Yeah, I think I started quite a well, it was it
wasn't a long gap, but I didn'tstart immediately the next day.
But right, I kept it in my headthinking, what am I gonna do?
I I these are such interestingcharacters, and then I got some
new ones that had never beenaround before, and I thought,
okay, I'm gonna write this then.
That's great.
And they just kind of poured outof my head, you know, like
(28:45):
looking out the window,dreaming.
SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Did you know when you werewriting The Dream of the Seeker
that there would be a secondone, or you were just letting it
happen?
SPEAKER_01 (28:57):
No, I was just letting it happen.
I couldn't think of anythingthat I would do that would
precede this, and then itfinally came to me of how to do
it.
SPEAKER_02 (29:06):
So did you find that once you finished, like once you
just wrote the last lines ofthat book, did you think at that
time, okay, good, I've got itout of my system, I'm all done
writing.
I did what I said I was gonna doand I'm good, or did you know
already that like it was justthe beginning?
(29:27):
Like for me, it was the bug.
Like the minute I wrote thefirst one, I thought for like
one minute that I was done.
And I had, you know, justchecked off a box.
And then after I did it, it waslike I feel like it was just
hours before I was thinking ofanother story.
Was that for you?
SPEAKER_01 (29:45):
Yes, in fact, in the story, um, a young woman finds
something very important and sheum polishes it up.
It's just something in like anecklace.
I'm not gonna Describe it all,but anyway, she carries wears it
under her smock, and that's thebeginning.
(30:06):
And then when Kaori is at thevery end, he says goodbye to his
friends, and he goes through thesmall door in the corner of the
wall.
And my daughter said, Mom, Ihave to read the second book net
if I know what's going on.
He gave him clip hangers.
I love that.
Yes.
(30:26):
That is the little uh thenecklace thing she's holding
becomes very important in thesecond story.
SPEAKER_02 (30:34):
Oh, I like that teaser.
Right.
Yeah.
Oh, so is that I what I'mguessing, I think I already know
the answer.
There's probably, and youprobably didn't even know it
when you were doing it, but Ibet there's all kinds of like
little Easter eggs throughoutthe book that let readers know
there's something more comingafter, right?
(30:54):
Yeah, oh, that's so cool.
I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (30:58):
That's amazing.
It's in the middle of the battlethey were having in this big
city, and she it was allscratched up, and it was like an
um just something you wouldwear.
And she polished it and it wasall gold, and she just but
somehow she felt she didn't wantanyone else to know she had it.
(31:18):
Something was telling her, don'tlet anybody see this.
And eventually she becomes thislittle nobody who runs a tavern,
becomes one of the majorcharacters because without her,
it the dream the story could notend.
And I won't tell what she does.
SPEAKER_02 (31:38):
No, we don't get to know, darn it.
I wanted the I wanted the thesneak peek of what's gonna
happen.
No, tell me, uh it's easy toguess what the favorite parts of
the whole book writing,publishing process was.
I'm guessing it would be thefavorite part would be the
actual writing of it, right?
(31:58):
Was there definitely part thatyou just absolutely didn't like
or don't like doing when itcomes to this whole process?
Don't say it's the don't sayit's the interviews.
Don't say not.
SPEAKER_01 (32:15):
Um, sometimes I would get stuck and I would say,
I don't know what I'm gonna donext.
So I would just go clean thehouse, do whatever, but it's
still swirling in my head thewhole time.
And I knew I have to just sitdown and start because it will
come, and that's what wouldhappen.
It would just come out the next.
(32:36):
In fact, that's where I am rightnow with the um ending.
I'm right close to the ending,but well, not quite, but where I
am right now, I've been thinkinga lot because I don't know
exactly which direction I'mgoing.
So I will tell you somethingthat's very interesting because
I did forget sometimes that Iwrote certain parts and I did
(33:02):
not like the ending of my story.
I just couldn't stand it.
I kept thinking I gotta go backand change this.
But I went back and the endinghad already been changed, and I
could not remember doing it.
And I love the ending, it'sbeautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (33:16):
Yeah, oh, that's so funny and so relatable too, by
the way.
unknown (33:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:24):
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, I like I said, I cantotally relate to that.
There are so many parts.
Well, there's so many books thatsomebody will ask me something,
they'll reference something init.
I'm like, yeah, I don't know.
I don't remember writing it.
I have no idea what you'retalking about.
And they're like, but you wroteit.
I'm like, I don't remember.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, totally understand.
(33:46):
Yeah.
Now, between your authorship andyour your career as a teacher,
do you ever think about umhelping other authors, like
basically kind of teaching themhow to go through the process of
writing a book?
(34:06):
Because I feel like you would beamazing at doing that.
You would be such such a greatguide for people to help them,
you know, because there's somany aspiring authors, and
you're gonna find, I don't knowif you're doing like book tours
or book signing events oranything like that at the
moment, but if you do, and ifyou are, you're gonna find that
you're gonna have so many peoplethat come up to you and they're
(34:28):
going to say, you know, I'vealways wanted to write a book,
but I don't know where to startor how to do it.
Do you do you think any chancethere'd be somewhere in that
lane for you?
I think so.
SPEAKER_01 (34:41):
I think I would I would first of all want to
relieve people of not being soanxious about it.
I don't know where to start.
Just start.
Just start.
I had a professor once and Ididn't realize that other people
felt that way.
He said, you just start writingand it's gonna come to you.
And a lot of the kids in theclass didn't, uh the adults in
the class did not like it.
(35:02):
They wanted to have somethingvery concrete.
And and people, you know, thelady who did Harry Potter was, I
mean, she's very successful.
That's how she wrote it.
SPEAKER_02 (35:12):
Yeah, I love that.
And I think I feel like that'slike the greatest advice you can
give, anyone can give to anyoneaspiring to be an author, really
kind of to anything, anythingthat you have a goal or uh a
dream or aspire to do, like youhave to you have to start, like
you have to start, you have toput one foot down on that road
(35:32):
and and just go.
SPEAKER_01 (35:34):
Yeah.
A lot of my teaching writing wasreally in school, like with
fifth graders who can do quite abit in writing.
We would write books, and uhthat was enjoyable for them too,
you know.
And they of course did their ownillustrations, and that's cute
because they're fifth graders.
SPEAKER_02 (35:53):
I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:54):
Wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (35:55):
There you go.
We could have maybe for yourChristmas book, you can have um
some kids illustrate it.
That would be so fun.
SPEAKER_01 (36:01):
I had thought about that because wouldn't that be
cute?
Yeah, it would be, it'd be verycute.
That's awesome.
Do you miss teaching?
Yes, in fact, that's why I wentinto writing full time because I
was really down.
I thought, because I want I wasI was you know 70 by the time I
quit teaching, and I I justloved it.
(36:23):
I was passionate with it, andthen I finally thought, oh, I'll
go back to my story and startcontinuing that.
And that filled a need, and Ijust found out I love that just
as much.
And I I do, I thoroughly enjoywriting.
SPEAKER_02 (36:38):
Yeah, yeah, I got I get it.
The the bug, you got the bugbecause working, you're working
on two right now.
I love that.
Do you think more after that?
Will you switch over into anyany different genres, or do you
think this is the one that ithas your heart?
SPEAKER_01 (36:55):
I don't know.
I just don't know what I'm goingto do.
Uh because I kind of wait till Iget done with something, then I
explore what I'm going to donext.
The Christmas story isinteresting because when my kids
were little and really believed,um, they got a letter from Santa
that told everything that washappening to this little elf who
(37:16):
was very mischievous, and thenit later on is going to be a
book of this elf.
SPEAKER_02 (37:22):
Oh, oh, I love it.
I love it.
Do you have like do you writelittle notes to yourself ever
every time you come up with anidea, or you just they're just
there in your head?
SPEAKER_01 (37:32):
They're just there.
I never yeah.
Well, I will tell you one thing.
I have sitting under thiscomputer a big giant um
calendar, you know, for eachmonth.
It's covered with everything.
That's oh, I gotta break thatdown or I'll forget it.
This is this is what yeah, sothe whole thing is covered with
(37:53):
everything but dates.
That's so funny.
Right.
So I look at it and go, There itis.
There it's all right here on mypage.
And every time I think, well, Icould have quit doing that
because it kind of looks sloppy,but I never do.
SPEAKER_02 (38:08):
Yeah, no, I I do the same thing.
I have I actually I would nevershow anyone my my desk right
now.
I would never show anyonebecause it's so ridiculous.
There, there are little, well,I'll show you this part.
There's there's these little,you know, notepad papers this
size, and they are all over theplace, and they're all like
reminders, notes to myself,ideas, scripts for something.
SPEAKER_01 (38:34):
Because my calendar is like this for one month, it's
like this.
I guess you can see what I'mdoing.
Yeah.
And um, yeah, it makes muchbetter notebook than uh putting.
I do put down dates, and then Ihave to remove a bunch of stuff
so I can see when am I going tobe when when did I set this
(38:54):
doctor's appointment or whateverit was?
Because yeah, this is a writer'sstuff.
SPEAKER_02 (39:00):
Yeah, my friends, this is a writer's mind.
This is what it looks insidelike inside our brains.
That's you know, you're gettinga glimpse inside our brains, is
what's what's happening rightnow.
Right, that's true.
That's true.
We have more ideas and thoughtsthan there are minutes in the
day.
And that's the frustrating part,right?
Like that's the hardest part.
There are so many things that Iwant to do on any given day.
(39:23):
And then the next thing youknow, it's like, oh, the day is
over.
What do you mean the day isover?
I have more things I need to do.
unknown (39:28):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (39:30):
Oh, tell me uh a little bit about uh if you're
going to be if you are I kind oftouched on it before.
Are you gonna be doing any booksigning events or are you gonna
do mostly kind of like theonline stuff like this?
SPEAKER_01 (39:42):
Or I'm deciding.
I have this new uh marketinggroup that I'm working with.
And uh they're setting all thisup.
We're first of all going like Iknow I'm going to have an
interview on a on a televisionshow.
SPEAKER_02 (39:59):
Very good.
SPEAKER_01 (40:00):
Yeah, but you're first, so that makes sense.
I'm first, I win, I win, ha! AndI know that I'm gonna be on
different social medias, and Ithink we have planned that some
places they have these big bookfairs, and I'm gonna be involved
in one of those.
That is one of their so fun.
(40:20):
Keep they're gonna keep me outin out there so everyone knows
about me.
Keeps hearing me.
SPEAKER_02 (40:25):
Good, I love it.
I'm so happy and excited foryou.
It this is such an excitingjourney to take.
And I love, you know, I startedwriting a little later in life.
I was not, you know, I wasn'tyoung.
And I'm not young.
I you did mention, I wasn'tgonna say, I wasn't gonna say
anything about, but I will say,friend, I lumped myself in this
(40:48):
too because we're of an olderbracket here.
Uh, and and I think it's soencouraging for people in our
ranges to realize that justbecause you retire, you know,
from your long-standing career,just because your age, whatever,
you can start something at anypoint in life.
(41:08):
And just right.
And I think that's such apowerful um thing for people to
see that that it doesn't matter,right?
Yeah, you're important, not atall.
And you're you're just you'reinspiring in so many ways.
And I think it's really coolthat you inspire both children
and adults of all age ranges.
(41:30):
So that is absolutely wonderful.
And the book sounds amazing.
That you're doing a sequel isgonna be so great.
You are um, I so you know, Idon't know about you, but I have
like a they call it the TBRlist, the to be read list.
And I too read, right?
Yep, my to be read list, and youare you're high up there because
(41:52):
I haven't read a fantasy novelin ages, so I'm really excited
to like it.
You will really I know I will.
I know as soon as you starttalking about dwarves and elves
and all those things, I lovethat stuff so much.
So I do too.
Yeah, I am very, very excited.
Um, tell everyone where they canfind the book.
And uh, I think you told me thatthere's a website in
(42:14):
development, so we'll keep aneye on that.
But um, where can they find thebook right now?
SPEAKER_01 (42:19):
Right now it's on uh Amazon and Kindle.
I will they can find iteverywhere, but if everywhere
else they look, like it's onApple, it's on Barnes and Noble,
they'll get this book.
Okay, I'll just show it to you,is um the other one's much
better because somebody hasformatted it correctly, is the
(42:41):
all the errors have been takenout.
And um right, so this is theone.
If you want this book, then yougo to Amazon or Kindle.
Perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (42:55):
And I will put guys, I will put the uh the links in
in the show notes for everybodyso they'll be able to click on
that, and I'll have it down hereon the screen so everybody will
find it nice and fast.
It'll be so fun.
And um, Judith, this was so fun.
Thank you so much for takingtime.
I mean I just loved it.
Oh good, I'm so glad.
(43:16):
Good.
This was uh just a blast for me.
Anytime I get to talk to fellowauthors, and it it's just such a
joy to hear everyone else'sprocess and and just their
experience of of writing and andsee like with you, especially um
the the joy of the the bookitself, the story itself.
You know, you can see um howmuch you enjoyed these
(43:39):
characters and this story.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (43:43):
I'm bored, so I'll go back and read part of my
book.
SPEAKER_02 (43:45):
Yeah, I love doing that.
Yeah, I haven't done it in ages,but because because I want to
read everybody else's booksfirst.
Oh, all right, my friends.
Thank you all for joining us.
We had a wonderful time heretalking about The Dreamer the
Seeker with Judith Husker, andwe hope that you will go pick it
(44:06):
up on Amazon.
Like I said, this the uh uh linkwill be in the show notes, and
we will talk to you all nexttime.
Take care.
SPEAKER_00 (44:14):
From small town love stories to battles of truth and
loyalty, Elsa Kurt's booksfollow the same heartbeat.
Ordinary people facingextraordinary moments.
You'll find romance, drama,second chances, even a peek
behind the microphone in hernewest release.
Multiple genres, differentworlds, same thread.
Old truth, real faith, noapologies.
Every conversation tells a story, and the best ones
(00:03):
begin with honesty, courage, anda little curiosity.
That's where Elsa Kurt comes in.
She's an author, podcaster, andindependent media personality,
and this is where she bringsreal life to the table.
Authors, thinkers, creators,leaders, everyday folks with
extraordinary journeys.
We sit down, we dig in, and wetalk about what matters, what's
(00:26):
messy, what's beautiful, andwhat just might inspire you to
look at the world a littledifferently.
So pour a cup of something good.
Settle back and join me.
This is Elsa Kurt Interviews,where truth has a seat and
everyone's welcome.
SPEAKER_02 (00:41):
Well, hello, my friends.
It is time for another one of myfavorite things.
They have so many favoritethings, but this is absolutely
highest on the list.
I love interviews, and I have awonderful, beautiful, lovely,
amazing guest today.
Her name is Judith, and she isgoing to tell us all about her
(01:02):
latest.
I'm sorry, her debut book.
I'm saying latest because I knowthere's going to be so many more
to come.
Um, but here is a little bitabout her.
SPEAKER_00 (01:10):
Today we're welcoming Judith Husker, a woman
whose life reads like a quietadventure story all its own.
She grew up building forts inthe woods, spent 40 years
lighting fires of imagination inher students, and now she
stepped into the world offantasy writing with her debut
novel, The Dreamer the Seeker.
We'll talk about the childhoodthat shaped her, the classroom
(01:32):
that sharpened her voice, andthe stories she's bringing to
life today.
Let's get into it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:38):
Well, hello, Judith.
How are you?
I am fine.
How are you?
I am good.
I'm so happy to meet you.
I'm so happy to hear about yourbook.
You know, when I was readingyour bio a little bit, it felt
in some ways so relatable.
We had such a similar childhoodand just love for imagination.
(02:01):
So um, you grew up on a smallfamily farm.
That part I didn't get to do,but I had a really big yard.
Um, you were surrounded by woodsand animals and what sounds like
endless, endless rooms, room tojust imagine.
And I would love to know thathow did that childhood world of
(02:21):
forts and fairies and dragonsshape the storyteller that you
eventually became?
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
Well, it was not only that, going out in the
woods with my brothers, helpingbuild forts, and then imagining
all the things that were comingafter us, and we were attacking
them or flying somewhere.
And then I would go in the houseand create a club, like I had
the garden club, and I'd makeeveryone little songs and little
(02:48):
booklet and things they coulddo.
And this was like when I wasjust 10, 11, 12, I was already
doing these things, and um wemight do a dragon club, you
know, where we would drawdragons and talk, you know,
because we knew dragons werereal.
I love like that.
SPEAKER_02 (03:07):
Oh, how fun! Were you able?
So I I feel like I was able tohang on to that mindset for so
long, and yes, even intoadulthood, but I always I also
feel like it slips away a littlebit.
But you were very fortunatebecause you worked with children
for a very long time.
Did that help you?
Did that help keep that sense,that type of imagination alive
(03:32):
for you?
SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
Definitely.
Um, I was already into being avery creative person and just
like creating a club, and we'dhave a sometimes we'd have a
fair going on, or just all kindsof interesting things in the
backyard.
And uh, there were six kids inmy family, so we were all very
(03:53):
busy, we enjoyed each other, anduh my dad was busy things like
digging out a swimming pool,just cluttering it with black
tarp.
That was all this big hole.
But and my mom would dump bleachin it every once in a while to
make it supposedly clean.
SPEAKER_02 (04:12):
That was that was our answer back in the day to
everything, right?
Right, yeah, good old bleach.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
Right.
But there were all kinds ofthings in the pool too.
That one time a frog got inthere and that was kind of fun.
SPEAKER_02 (04:25):
Oh, my favorite.
SPEAKER_01 (04:27):
Right.
So it was kind of a little livepond, not I mean, you know, it
wasn't just a swimming pool.
SPEAKER_02 (04:35):
Right, right.
Oh, I remember that as a kidtoo.
Or the I remember the swimmingpool, and that was like my big
excitement.
So I grew up in an apartmentcomplex, but um, we had a big
in-round pool.
I thought it was rich, by theway.
We were not, nowhere near it.
And you know, the um the littledrains that they would have or
baskets, filters, that's what itis.
(04:56):
Um, we would always find frogsin there.
So that was like the greatestthing ever in my mind, right?
Oh, loved it.
They all had names.
Every frog I ever caught got aname.
Most of them had the same name,right?
Right.
Oh, I love that.
It's like you're bringing meback to my own childhood.
It's so sweet.
Good, I'm glad.
(05:16):
Um, were you were you writingback then as well, or were you
just living in that imagination?
SPEAKER_01 (05:23):
I was kind of living in it when I wrote these little
booklets for kids.
I would make them into every allthe neighbor kids got a booklet,
and we would sing the songs andread the stories.
And so that was my beginning ofmy writing.
And then it just continued fromthere.
That's enjoyed writing andcreating things and being very
(05:43):
creative, which really helped itwhen I became a teacher.
SPEAKER_02 (05:47):
Oh, absolutely.
What um what what did you teach?
Was it general studies or was itEnglish?
SPEAKER_01 (05:52):
Was it yes, general?
I taught grade school andbecause it was so long, I taught
all the grades, K through, and Iwent to fifth grade then in the
school district I was in.
So uh, and I love being indifferent grades because they're
all wonderful.
And I thoroughly that was mypassion, really.
Teaching always was from theeven before I started teaching.
(06:14):
And so, and I love creatingthings.
I didn't just like the mathprogram.
Oh, I just don't like this mathprogram, it's not progressing
right.
So I redid it.
Oh wow.
I didn't tell everybody elsebecause they would have a fit,
but it really made sense to mykids to learn to do math in a
way that made sense and waspractical.
(06:35):
I tried to create things thatwere real life, like if we were
doing measurement, we foundsomeone was building a house and
we went over and got to measurethe house, the inside.
That was oh wow.
SPEAKER_02 (06:47):
Uh, where were teachers like you when I was
growing up?
I didn't have, I just I did nothave, I was the ADHD kid before
ADHD was a thing.
So I was just, you know, uh hadpotential, but never uh applied
herself.
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
I was the ADHD teacher, and so I would talk to
the kids and I would explain,you know, this this has nothing
to do with intelligence.
You can be very intelligent andstill have this kind of your
your brain is just going at alltimes.
Yes, yes, absolutely.
I had a contest once with one ofthe girls that let's see how
(07:24):
long we can sit still withouteven moving an inch.
I lost.
SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
I love that.
I love that.
And for an ADH year, we love achallenge, like, oh, if you're
gonna challenge our brain to dosomething or or tell us that we
can't do it, now we have to doit.
Now we must.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (07:41):
Oh, that's so awesome.
Yes.
Another part of people, itisn't, and I think for a while
we kind of condemned kids whoare like that, and it should
never have happened.
It was just a part of apersonality.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (07:55):
It's so true.
You're so right.
It just it's just a simplelittle difference, that's all.
And you know, when you thinkabout it, every every child,
every person is different,right?
Like this is just yet anotherdifference that we have.
So that's right.
Yeah.
Oh, well, thank you.
Because I I I have a very strongfeeling that you sent so many
(08:16):
children onto really terrificpaths in their life.
So oh, God bless teachers likeyou.
The um the early spark obviouslystayed with you throughout your
entire life, and it has shown upbeautifully in your debut novel.
So let's talk a little bit aboutthat.
You spent 40 years inspiringyoung minds in the classroom.
(08:38):
How did your career in educationinfluence your approach to
storytelling?
And in go ahead, yeah, go ahead,answer that one.
SPEAKER_01 (08:45):
I was gonna just say that I even wrote in the
classroom.
I wrote for all the fifth gradeuh classrooms in my district a
book, um, you know, Unit onChemistry and a human unit on
the human body, and everyoneliked it.
Wow.
And um it was so I was alwayswriting, and when I wrote, I
would throw in fun things, youknow.
(09:06):
Like if you're want to learnabout your heart and how that it
beats all the time, get a spongeor a softball and try to squeeze
it for a minute.
You will not be able to, you'llfind my goodness the heart does
this all day long.
That's brilliant.
Things like that.
SPEAKER_02 (09:24):
Uh that's actually amazing to me.
We can go back to the otherquestion, but that's amazing to
me because uh you're so wellrounded in the different types
of, we'll call it genres forlack of another word.
Uh the genres that you can writein, that you can write technical
writing, that you can writefantasy, that it's that's really
impressive.
And I don't, I I feel likethat's not as common as, you
(09:47):
know, a lot of people will, alot of authors, writers will
pick a lane and they'llgenerally stay in it.
They may switch over a littlebit here and there, a little to
the left, a little to the right.
But uh that's pretty diverse.
So I'm incredibly impressedright now and jealous.
I'm really envious right now.
So, how did those years withthose kids?
(10:09):
Because I would imagine justlistening to them and
interacting with them teachesyou what they want to, what they
want to read, right?
What they what resonates withthem.
So you had that leg up wheresomebody else who, you know,
just sat down one day with nochildhood education background.
Um, so I'm gonna write a fantasybook for for children and young
(10:29):
adults.
I don't think it works that way,but it just doesn't, right?
But there are people who havetried it and you can see that
they haven't made thatconnection.
So tell tell me how that helpedyou make that connection.
SPEAKER_01 (10:42):
Well, first of all, it was in the choice of books.
We read a lot of fantasy booksabout dragons and all kinds of
things, and the kids loved them.
And we would write about it, wewould draw them, we would do, we
would learn like dinosaurs andreally go into what they were
like and uh what the ones howthe ones got food that had short
(11:03):
hands and the ones who walkedaround on all fours and how long
ago it was.
It was amazing.
People don't, we don't totallycomprehend what millions of
years are.
Yeah.
So each of that, um, and infact, while I was teaching, I
wanted to start writingsomething.
And I did start the fantasy.
(11:25):
I but I had three kids gettingmy master's teaching full-time,
and I started writing thisfantasy.
I fit it in.
I only did it once in a while,though, because my life was
busy.
Sure.
But I thoroughly enjoyed doingit and just slowly getting
along, building up thesecharacters that were just coming
(11:45):
out of my mind.
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (11:48):
And you kind of have to with some with something that
with such an undertaking as afantasy novel, like you really
do have to take a lot of becauseit's world building.
You're building worlds fromscratch, from your just from
your right.
You know, you don't have youcan't go on um uh Google Maps
and you know, look at a right,you know, and like it's really
(12:10):
coming from your own mind.
So I, you know, that's such a acool, cool ability to be able to
to just do that to build likethat.
SPEAKER_01 (12:21):
I know that a lot of authors, since I heard about the
Harry Potter, she literallywrote outlines of everything.
Oh, yeah.
I would never stay on theoutline, I know.
I would just say, I don't knowwhat I'm gonna write today, and
I would start and it would justlike come out of my head.
All of the scramble of storiesthat were there came out, and
(12:41):
they just came out, and I went,Oh, that's good.
I like that.
I love that.
SPEAKER_02 (12:46):
I have a name for it.
I always asked my fellow authorfriends, people, I always say,
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
And they're like, What are youtalking about?
I said, Well, do you have towrite out the whole outline that
get your whole plot together, ordo you just sit down and fly by
the seat of your pants, apantser, and write?
And I'm a pantser.
(13:07):
I do the same thing that you do.
I have I sit down and the wordsjust they the story starts
telling itself, and I'm just theperson right?
SPEAKER_01 (13:15):
I just on the typewriter, that's all.
SPEAKER_02 (13:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, I love it.
And it's so fun.
And I always, I don't know aboutyou, do you like look back after
you've written like a big chunkof writing and you maybe take a
break from it for a little whileand then you go back and read
it, and you almost don'tremember writing, like it's
almost unrecognizable.
You're like, I wrote that?
Really?
That's for me.
SPEAKER_01 (13:36):
I remember once just opening up part of the the book
as far as I got and startedreading.
I went, boy, I like how thatlady is that um troll is our elf
is talking.
That is amazing.
She really got hey, wait, Iwrote that.
SPEAKER_02 (13:52):
It's so fun, isn't it?
So I love I love hearingsomebody else that does that
because most of the people Italk to will say, oh no, no, no.
I I put I have the outline and Ihave like character studies for
each character, and I do like abio for them, and they you know,
and they have like the you know,the strings and the things and
the circles and all.
(14:13):
I'm like, no, no, I can't, Ican't.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
My brain would not allow it, right?
My brain wouldn't either.
I would just and besides, Iwould get halfway through and
then stop and think of a betteridea and just keep going.
That's kind of the way teachingis some people write outlines
and just really detailed, andthey have to follow it.
And for me, it was okay, we'regoing to do this thing on uh
(14:38):
social studies, say we're gonnalearn about American history.
Well, we'll start out here andthen I'll learn about some other
people, and so we'll go and dosomething else about American
history, but in a different uhdifferent angle, and to keep it
moving and keeping it alive isimportant.
Yeah, uh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
Did you have a lot of kids that were?
I'm sorry, I'm sidetrackinghere.
Did you have a um a good mix ofpotters and and panthers in your
classrooms, or did they seem tobe more?
SPEAKER_01 (15:04):
Yeah, um I mainly had panthers, I think.
I worked really well with kidsthat had disabilities, and so I
my classroom was always loaded.
Yeah.
In fact, when I was beingswitched to a different grade
level, the one who was goinginto fifth grade told the fourth
grade teachers, don't you daredo to me what you did to Judith.
(15:28):
I don't want all those kids.
SPEAKER_02 (15:31):
So let's talk a little bit about your book.
I keep picking your brain abouteverything else now.
Let's move on to the book.
So, for someone picking up thedreamer, the seeker for the
first time, how would youdescribe it to them?
SPEAKER_01 (15:44):
Okay, the first thing I'm going to explain is
that I wrote a book and it lookslike this.
Ah.
And this was my first book.
It's the same plot, but I did itthrough a free company that is
free and you get what you payfor.
And I thought they were going toformat it and correct it and you
(16:06):
know, edit it.
No, they didn't.
So it has all kinds of errors init.
This is the book.
This is the one you want tofind.
And the only place I've seen iton is Amazon or Kindle.
And if the wrong book appears,then you go either to my name,
try my name first, and then trythe name of the book.
(16:28):
But um, this is incrediblebecause I had a lot of help.
SPEAKER_02 (16:32):
Tell me a little bit about what readers can expect in
like in terms of the story'spremise and you know, the
storyline and the emotionalexperience that it offers.
SPEAKER_01 (16:44):
First of all, it's very unique in the sense that
every time you turn a page or apart of the story, you don't
know how it's going to turn out.
And that's what my son told me.
My son, who's older, said, Mom,this is so creative because I
never expect what's going tohappen to happen.
And I have all kinds of magic,but it's not anybody else's
(17:07):
stuff I've invented myself.
And the P, there's a there's uhdwarves and elves and humans and
trolls and orgs, and then ofcourse the monster part, the
terrible monster and all his uhassociates.
But it starts with this youngboy.
Now I don't want to say tooyoung, he's probably about 16,
(17:30):
but he's a he's a mixture of it.
He's a dwarfson.
And there are also these peoplecalled born ones, and born ones
are people who connect with theuniverse, and the universe gives
them strength and power anddirections of how to to help
people.
(17:51):
So um that's and he discoversthat he is a born one.
And the problem is that he hasno, he's very insecure and he
thinks this is this can't betrue.
I don't I can't do magic.
I I I can make a coin disappearin my hands, that's about it.
And so the story is about thisyoung man developing into seeing
(18:15):
himself more positively, able tohelp others, and going through a
lot of adventures, you know,like the ice witch, who he has
to uh find and deal with her.
And of course, she captures himand freezes him, and his friends
are there to help him and gethim out of the problem, and just
(18:36):
constantly falling into moreproblems and more adventures.
Like there's an innkeeper whouh, when they are kind of lost,
they're going around.
There's three other friends hehas, and one is an elf who's
really good at tracking, but hegets lost, and they end up in
this inn and they get food anddinner, and then they find out
they're trapped in there, theycan never leave.
(18:58):
And um, so a battle kind ofstarts out, and he every time he
feels that he can't really domuch.
One time he's been given by umsomeone this belt that has all
these crystals on it, and thethe crystal explodes when an an
(19:19):
evil person comes near, and hisfriend said, What happened?
He says, I don't know.
I had my eyes closed, I was tooscared.
I love this.
And then there's a marmouse, anda marmuse is about five foot.
She's not a mouse at all, she'sum just a critter that um no one
else likes.
(19:39):
In fact, trolls like to findthem because they have them for
dinner, and uh but and she seemsso scatter-brained and so out of
it.
But what she is hiding is thefact that she is the ultimate
born one, and um how she helpsKaori through this is just
really amazing.
And then she passes on to himwhat she has, and that becomes
(20:01):
exciting.
Is there anything I've left outnow?
Because I haven't really said,well, Kaori does this and then
this and this.
SPEAKER_02 (20:08):
I don't want it to be too Yeah, no, we're not gonna
tell him the whole story.
You all have to go buy thatbook.
You're not gonna get the wholestory right now.
No, but I love so what'sstriking me so much is that I I
feel like I can see thecharacters, which is so cool.
And I I I love that they're sounique and different from each
(20:30):
other, but yet there's also afamiliarity to them, like they
have like relatable qualitiesthat you know we can relate to
as humans too.
And I think that's what makeswhat makes it so endearing that
you can be taken into the storyand feel this the sense of
wonder and fantasy and othernessof it.
(20:53):
Um, but then you also feel likeyou're relating, you know, and
and I think that's really aspecial and difficult thing to
do.
Do you have, speaking of yourcharacters, do you have, I mean,
everyone would probably guessit's the main character, but do
you have a character in the bookthat you especially connected
(21:13):
with or was just simply yourfavorite character of the book?
SPEAKER_01 (21:17):
It would be Kaori, and I say his name clear
carefully because sometimespeople don't know how to
pronounce it.
And Kaori is the main character,and it talks about how he just
develops and becomes this verystrong person and then develops
until he is the ultimate bornone.
And um the other person who hasa unique name is I Aja.
(21:44):
And when I don't know where Igot these names, they just came
to me.
And so she's a top-born one, andshe gives all her power and
strength to uh, she's likehundreds of years old, so she's
ready to go on to the up in thesky wherever they go, and uh so
she gives her power to him, andhe that really changes his
(22:05):
ability, what he feels abouthimself.
I must be okay because Ayajathought I was.
So um, I love that, right?
SPEAKER_02 (22:16):
That's beautiful.
Tell me a little bit about theprotagonist, the the scary guy,
without giving away too much, ofcourse, but the marauder is a
wizard who has gone uh insaneand is has created these
(22:37):
creatures who follow him and arewinged creatures and are dark.
SPEAKER_01 (22:44):
Um, but he is different, he is not like your
normal evil, but he loves evil,he loves hurting people and
torturing them.
I don't have a lot of torture init though, because I don't like
that.
But I do have people that arelike if a one of the winged
creatures goes after you andeven claws you, you will die
(23:06):
instantly because they have somuch power and so much poison in
their body.
And then I should tell about theother part that is important,
and that is when the themarauder has been under earth
and they've found out that he'snow going to expose himself and
come out in the open.
And so they have a group ofpeople they call the chasm
(23:28):
guards, and each of them havebeen given a special sword that
just is their own, and thoseswords can create, can kill
fantasy creatures, and no oneelse can.
They're the only ones who cankill these, and they're called
scabars, and they're the onlyones who can kill them, so it's
good they have a lot of thosepeople around helping out.
SPEAKER_02 (23:50):
This sounds so good, it sounds so epic, it just
sounds like this great epicstory.
SPEAKER_01 (23:56):
It is the epic story, and it's exciting.
SPEAKER_02 (24:00):
You um I'm sorry what's going on.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, I can I can I can onlyimagine.
I can't wait to read it.
I can't wait to read the wholething.
Tell me a little bit about whatyou would say, like the core
themes or messages that you hopereaders will take away from
reading the story.
SPEAKER_01 (24:21):
Okay, I'm gonna have to go back to when I was
teaching school.
One of my former students, who'sthen an eighth grader, came in
and was just chatting with meand said, You know, my teacher
told me I'm a failure and I'llnever make it, and you know,
just give it up.
I couldn't, I said, You have gotto be kidding that somebody
would tell you that.
I know, my class, you were soyou were just a good student.
(24:46):
And you're good enough that youcan go to college, you can go to
trade school, you can do whatyou want to do because you're a
hard worker and that's the wayit is.
I don't listen to that man.
So that kind of brought me tothinking about what I want
people to do after they readthis, is not just celebrate life
(25:09):
or something like that, butcelebrate my life, my
personality.
Like, okay, if your attentiondeficit, celebrate it.
And if um, and I talk to thekids, we make lists of things
we're good at.
And if you're good at soccer, itdoesn't mean you're the best in
the world, it just means you'reproud of yourself, and I'm
celebrating myself.
(25:29):
And that's what Kiori does.
He comes very slowly along tillhe can celebrate the kind of
person he is and not worry aboutanybody else.
This isn't this is what I wantyou to do.
So I want it to be it's a veryunique story, it's very
creative, but mainly it slowlyworks into people feeling
(25:51):
positive about our creaturesfeeling positive about
themselves.
And that I think that's a realimportant message we say about
celebrate life, but we forgetthat it's our life we should be
celebrating.
SPEAKER_02 (26:04):
I feel like you just healed something in my young
child's heart.
Just just hearing that, justhearing that, like it just it it
feels good to hear it.
And I and I know, you know, allthe kids that that are and were
like me, and you know, I had avery supportive family.
So I did not have a terribletime of it.
School was very difficult for mebecause I just you know, and you
(26:29):
know, so and of course back thenthey didn't understand kids like
me.
And you're bad.
Why aren't you just I was justyeah, I was just being bad.
I was a daydreamer, I was youknow an airhead, I was spacing,
you know, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Always always was looking outthe window, never paid attention
because I was too busy in my ownlittle fantasy world.
(26:50):
That probably sounds veryfamiliar, right?
Right.
That is so wonderful.
What a wonderful place to be.
Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't yougo to that place any chance?
Come on, you know, yeah.
So oh um, I I so I'm so curious.
This sounds like a book thatshould have sequels.
Will the will there be more tothe story or will you change
(27:13):
gears completely?
SPEAKER_01 (27:14):
No, I'm already halfway through the sequel, the
third, the second story, and Ibrought in some of the same
characters, but I have enrichedthem and made them discover
things about themselves.
And uh a totally differentadventure.
Everything is because that'sjust the way I wanted to do it,
but it is long.
(27:35):
I've also written, but I've not,I just have the story down of a
Christmas story.
Um, and now I'm gonna have toget illustrator and get it
formatted correctly and thingslike that.
But that's uh they're both inthe works.
I'm mainly working on my secondstory of Dreamers and the
Seekers.
SPEAKER_02 (27:55):
I don't know what I'm gonna call it, but it's
that's that makes it even moreexciting, right?
It's exciting for you becauseyou don't know it's gonna come
as a surprise for even you.
That's so fun.
How long?
Um like on the technical side ofthings, I'm so curious how long
from when you finished writingthe manuscript of the dreamer
the seeker, how long before youstarted the second book?
(28:19):
Was there a long gap or did youstart kind of right away?
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
Yeah, I think I started quite a well, it was it
wasn't a long gap, but I didn'tstart immediately the next day.
But right, I kept it in my headthinking, what am I gonna do?
I I these are such interestingcharacters, and then I got some
new ones that had never beenaround before, and I thought,
okay, I'm gonna write this then.
That's great.
And they just kind of poured outof my head, you know, like
(28:45):
looking out the window,dreaming.
SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Did you know when you werewriting The Dream of the Seeker
that there would be a secondone, or you were just letting it
happen?
SPEAKER_01 (28:57):
No, I was just letting it happen.
I couldn't think of anythingthat I would do that would
precede this, and then itfinally came to me of how to do
it.
SPEAKER_02 (29:06):
So did you find that once you finished, like once you
just wrote the last lines ofthat book, did you think at that
time, okay, good, I've got itout of my system, I'm all done
writing.
I did what I said I was gonna doand I'm good, or did you know
already that like it was justthe beginning?
(29:27):
Like for me, it was the bug.
Like the minute I wrote thefirst one, I thought for like
one minute that I was done.
And I had, you know, justchecked off a box.
And then after I did it, it waslike I feel like it was just
hours before I was thinking ofanother story.
Was that for you?
SPEAKER_01 (29:45):
Yes, in fact, in the story, um, a young woman finds
something very important and sheum polishes it up.
It's just something in like anecklace.
I'm not gonna Describe it all,but anyway, she carries wears it
under her smock, and that's thebeginning.
(30:06):
And then when Kaori is at thevery end, he says goodbye to his
friends, and he goes through thesmall door in the corner of the
wall.
And my daughter said, Mom, Ihave to read the second book net
if I know what's going on.
He gave him clip hangers.
I love that.
Yes.
(30:26):
That is the little uh thenecklace thing she's holding
becomes very important in thesecond story.
SPEAKER_02 (30:34):
Oh, I like that teaser.
Right.
Yeah.
Oh, so is that I what I'mguessing, I think I already know
the answer.
There's probably, and youprobably didn't even know it
when you were doing it, but Ibet there's all kinds of like
little Easter eggs throughoutthe book that let readers know
there's something more comingafter, right?
(30:54):
Yeah, oh, that's so cool.
I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (30:58):
That's amazing.
It's in the middle of the battlethey were having in this big
city, and she it was allscratched up, and it was like an
um just something you wouldwear.
And she polished it and it wasall gold, and she just but
somehow she felt she didn't wantanyone else to know she had it.
(31:18):
Something was telling her, don'tlet anybody see this.
And eventually she becomes thislittle nobody who runs a tavern,
becomes one of the majorcharacters because without her,
it the dream the story could notend.
And I won't tell what she does.
SPEAKER_02 (31:38):
No, we don't get to know, darn it.
I wanted the I wanted the thesneak peek of what's gonna
happen.
No, tell me, uh it's easy toguess what the favorite parts of
the whole book writing,publishing process was.
I'm guessing it would be thefavorite part would be the
actual writing of it, right?
(31:58):
Was there definitely part thatyou just absolutely didn't like
or don't like doing when itcomes to this whole process?
Don't say it's the don't sayit's the interviews.
Don't say not.
SPEAKER_01 (32:15):
Um, sometimes I would get stuck and I would say,
I don't know what I'm gonna donext.
So I would just go clean thehouse, do whatever, but it's
still swirling in my head thewhole time.
And I knew I have to just sitdown and start because it will
come, and that's what wouldhappen.
It would just come out the next.
(32:36):
In fact, that's where I am rightnow with the um ending.
I'm right close to the ending,but well, not quite, but where I
am right now, I've been thinkinga lot because I don't know
exactly which direction I'mgoing.
So I will tell you somethingthat's very interesting because
I did forget sometimes that Iwrote certain parts and I did
(33:02):
not like the ending of my story.
I just couldn't stand it.
I kept thinking I gotta go backand change this.
But I went back and the endinghad already been changed, and I
could not remember doing it.
And I love the ending, it'sbeautiful.
SPEAKER_02 (33:16):
Yeah, oh, that's so funny and so relatable too, by
the way.
unknown (33:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:24):
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, I like I said, I cantotally relate to that.
There are so many parts.
Well, there's so many books thatsomebody will ask me something,
they'll reference something init.
I'm like, yeah, I don't know.
I don't remember writing it.
I have no idea what you'retalking about.
And they're like, but you wroteit.
I'm like, I don't remember.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, totally understand.
(33:46):
Yeah.
Now, between your authorship andyour your career as a teacher,
do you ever think about umhelping other authors, like
basically kind of teaching themhow to go through the process of
writing a book?
(34:06):
Because I feel like you would beamazing at doing that.
You would be such such a greatguide for people to help them,
you know, because there's somany aspiring authors, and
you're gonna find, I don't knowif you're doing like book tours
or book signing events oranything like that at the
moment, but if you do, and ifyou are, you're gonna find that
you're gonna have so many peoplethat come up to you and they're
(34:28):
going to say, you know, I'vealways wanted to write a book,
but I don't know where to startor how to do it.
Do you do you think any chancethere'd be somewhere in that
lane for you?
I think so.
SPEAKER_01 (34:41):
I think I would I would first of all want to
relieve people of not being soanxious about it.
I don't know where to start.
Just start.
Just start.
I had a professor once and Ididn't realize that other people
felt that way.
He said, you just start writingand it's gonna come to you.
And a lot of the kids in theclass didn't, uh the adults in
the class did not like it.
(35:02):
They wanted to have somethingvery concrete.
And and people, you know, thelady who did Harry Potter was, I
mean, she's very successful.
That's how she wrote it.
SPEAKER_02 (35:12):
Yeah, I love that.
And I think I feel like that'slike the greatest advice you can
give, anyone can give to anyoneaspiring to be an author, really
kind of to anything, anythingthat you have a goal or uh a
dream or aspire to do, like youhave to you have to start, like
you have to start, you have toput one foot down on that road
(35:32):
and and just go.
SPEAKER_01 (35:34):
Yeah.
A lot of my teaching writing wasreally in school, like with
fifth graders who can do quite abit in writing.
We would write books, and uhthat was enjoyable for them too,
you know.
And they of course did their ownillustrations, and that's cute
because they're fifth graders.
SPEAKER_02 (35:53):
I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:54):
Wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (35:55):
There you go.
We could have maybe for yourChristmas book, you can have um
some kids illustrate it.
That would be so fun.
SPEAKER_01 (36:01):
I had thought about that because wouldn't that be
cute?
Yeah, it would be, it'd be verycute.
That's awesome.
Do you miss teaching?
Yes, in fact, that's why I wentinto writing full time because I
was really down.
I thought, because I want I wasI was you know 70 by the time I
quit teaching, and I I justloved it.
(36:23):
I was passionate with it, andthen I finally thought, oh, I'll
go back to my story and startcontinuing that.
And that filled a need, and Ijust found out I love that just
as much.
And I I do, I thoroughly enjoywriting.
SPEAKER_02 (36:38):
Yeah, yeah, I got I get it.
The the bug, you got the bugbecause working, you're working
on two right now.
I love that.
Do you think more after that?
Will you switch over into anyany different genres, or do you
think this is the one that ithas your heart?
SPEAKER_01 (36:55):
I don't know.
I just don't know what I'm goingto do.
Uh because I kind of wait till Iget done with something, then I
explore what I'm going to donext.
The Christmas story isinteresting because when my kids
were little and really believed,um, they got a letter from Santa
that told everything that washappening to this little elf who
(37:16):
was very mischievous, and thenit later on is going to be a
book of this elf.
SPEAKER_02 (37:22):
Oh, oh, I love it.
I love it.
Do you have like do you writelittle notes to yourself ever
every time you come up with anidea, or you just they're just
there in your head?
SPEAKER_01 (37:32):
They're just there.
I never yeah.
Well, I will tell you one thing.
I have sitting under thiscomputer a big giant um
calendar, you know, for eachmonth.
It's covered with everything.
That's oh, I gotta break thatdown or I'll forget it.
This is this is what yeah, sothe whole thing is covered with
(37:53):
everything but dates.
That's so funny.
Right.
So I look at it and go, There itis.
There it's all right here on mypage.
And every time I think, well, Icould have quit doing that
because it kind of looks sloppy,but I never do.
SPEAKER_02 (38:08):
Yeah, no, I I do the same thing.
I have I actually I would nevershow anyone my my desk right
now.
I would never show anyonebecause it's so ridiculous.
There, there are little, well,I'll show you this part.
There's there's these little,you know, notepad papers this
size, and they are all over theplace, and they're all like
reminders, notes to myself,ideas, scripts for something.
SPEAKER_01 (38:34):
Because my calendar is like this for one month, it's
like this.
I guess you can see what I'mdoing.
Yeah.
And um, yeah, it makes muchbetter notebook than uh putting.
I do put down dates, and then Ihave to remove a bunch of stuff
so I can see when am I going tobe when when did I set this
(38:54):
doctor's appointment or whateverit was?
Because yeah, this is a writer'sstuff.
SPEAKER_02 (39:00):
Yeah, my friends, this is a writer's mind.
This is what it looks insidelike inside our brains.
That's you know, you're gettinga glimpse inside our brains, is
what's what's happening rightnow.
Right, that's true.
That's true.
We have more ideas and thoughtsthan there are minutes in the
day.
And that's the frustrating part,right?
Like that's the hardest part.
There are so many things that Iwant to do on any given day.
(39:23):
And then the next thing youknow, it's like, oh, the day is
over.
What do you mean the day isover?
I have more things I need to do.
unknown (39:28):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (39:30):
Oh, tell me uh a little bit about uh if you're
going to be if you are I kind oftouched on it before.
Are you gonna be doing any booksigning events or are you gonna
do mostly kind of like theonline stuff like this?
SPEAKER_01 (39:42):
Or I'm deciding.
I have this new uh marketinggroup that I'm working with.
And uh they're setting all thisup.
We're first of all going like Iknow I'm going to have an
interview on a on a televisionshow.
SPEAKER_02 (39:59):
Very good.
SPEAKER_01 (40:00):
Yeah, but you're first, so that makes sense.
I'm first, I win, I win, ha! AndI know that I'm gonna be on
different social medias, and Ithink we have planned that some
places they have these big bookfairs, and I'm gonna be involved
in one of those.
That is one of their so fun.
(40:20):
Keep they're gonna keep me outin out there so everyone knows
about me.
Keeps hearing me.
SPEAKER_02 (40:25):
Good, I love it.
I'm so happy and excited foryou.
It this is such an excitingjourney to take.
And I love, you know, I startedwriting a little later in life.
I was not, you know, I wasn'tyoung.
And I'm not young.
I you did mention, I wasn'tgonna say, I wasn't gonna say
anything about, but I will say,friend, I lumped myself in this
(40:48):
too because we're of an olderbracket here.
Uh, and and I think it's soencouraging for people in our
ranges to realize that justbecause you retire, you know,
from your long-standing career,just because your age, whatever,
you can start something at anypoint in life.
(41:08):
And just right.
And I think that's such apowerful um thing for people to
see that that it doesn't matter,right?
Yeah, you're important, not atall.
And you're you're just you'reinspiring in so many ways.
And I think it's really coolthat you inspire both children
and adults of all age ranges.
(41:30):
So that is absolutely wonderful.
And the book sounds amazing.
That you're doing a sequel isgonna be so great.
You are um, I so you know, Idon't know about you, but I have
like a they call it the TBRlist, the to be read list.
And I too read, right?
Yep, my to be read list, and youare you're high up there because
(41:52):
I haven't read a fantasy novelin ages, so I'm really excited
to like it.
You will really I know I will.
I know as soon as you starttalking about dwarves and elves
and all those things, I lovethat stuff so much.
So I do too.
Yeah, I am very, very excited.
Um, tell everyone where they canfind the book.
And uh, I think you told me thatthere's a website in
(42:14):
development, so we'll keep aneye on that.
But um, where can they find thebook right now?
SPEAKER_01 (42:19):
Right now it's on uh Amazon and Kindle.
I will they can find iteverywhere, but if everywhere
else they look, like it's onApple, it's on Barnes and Noble,
they'll get this book.
Okay, I'll just show it to you,is um the other one's much
better because somebody hasformatted it correctly, is the
(42:41):
all the errors have been takenout.
And um right, so this is theone.
If you want this book, then yougo to Amazon or Kindle.
Perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (42:55):
And I will put guys, I will put the uh the links in
in the show notes for everybodyso they'll be able to click on
that, and I'll have it down hereon the screen so everybody will
find it nice and fast.
It'll be so fun.
And um, Judith, this was so fun.
Thank you so much for takingtime.
I mean I just loved it.
Oh good, I'm so glad.
(43:16):
Good.
This was uh just a blast for me.
Anytime I get to talk to fellowauthors, and it it's just such a
joy to hear everyone else'sprocess and and just their
experience of of writing and andsee like with you, especially um
the the joy of the the bookitself, the story itself.
You know, you can see um howmuch you enjoyed these
(43:39):
characters and this story.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (43:43):
I'm bored, so I'll go back and read part of my
book.
SPEAKER_02 (43:45):
Yeah, I love doing that.
Yeah, I haven't done it in ages,but because because I want to
read everybody else's booksfirst.
Oh, all right, my friends.
Thank you all for joining us.
We had a wonderful time heretalking about The Dreamer the
Seeker with Judith Husker, andwe hope that you will go pick it
(44:06):
up on Amazon.
Like I said, this the uh uh linkwill be in the show notes, and
we will talk to you all nexttime.
Take care.
SPEAKER_00 (44:14):
From small town love stories to battles of truth and
loyalty, Elsa Kurt's booksfollow the same heartbeat.
Ordinary people facingextraordinary moments.
You'll find romance, drama,second chances, even a peek
behind the microphone in hernewest release.
Multiple genres, differentworlds, same thread.
Old truth, real faith, noapologies.
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